Portrait of a hero...

(Baonghean) -Many people know Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong - Deputy Head of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (Nghe An Police) with his outstanding achievements and the noble titles that the Party and the State have awarded and honored. However, few people know that behind the portrait of the hero, the people's police officer who always "forgets himself for the country, serves the people" is a personality, willpower and ideals with many admirable, trustworthy and respectful things...

Fire tests gold, hardship tests strength...

On the outside, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong has a gentle face, a calm demeanor, and is modest in every word, but when he enters the fight against drug crimes, he is very determined, resourceful, brave, and full of sacrifice. That strong will and steel spirit were tempered from growing up in hardship and being tested in difficult and dangerous working environments. He was born and raised in Nghi Trung commune, a poor rural area of ​​Nghi Loc district. His family is a farmer, and his childhood was hard-working with the rain and sun of the fields. The family is poor and has many children, but his parents did not accept poverty, saving every grain of rice and potato to raise 4 children to go to university. His father - a former frontline laborer, had to pick every guava and apple in the garden to sell at the market to pay for his children's tuition. That is why, from a young age, Nguyen Duc Cuong was trained to be independent and have the will to overcome difficulties and rise up. During high school, he studied very well and passed the entrance exams to the Security Academy and the Military Technical Academy, and he decided to choose the Security industry. After finishing his studies at the Security Academy, he took the entrance exam to the People's Police Academy with a strong passion to directly fight crime. In 2000, graduating with a good degree, the young detective Nguyen Duc Cuong was assigned to work in Chieu Luu commune - a key drug area of ​​the mountainous district of Ky Son, with rugged mountains and forests, difficult and complicated roads and means of transportation, limited means of communication, and language differences with ethnic minorities...

Many obstacles opened up before the young detective who had just graduated. However, he overcame them all and it was the days of "undercover" that brought Cuong to the task of investigating drug crimes. He persistently built a base, firmly stuck to the area, planned to report to the leaders and directly participated in destroying many drug dens. He confided: "It was thanks to being challenged in a difficult and dangerous environment that I quickly matured and later when facing more dangers and difficulties, I found it normal...". Major projects such as 502M, 901T that Cuong was in charge of created a great resonance and he was appointed Deputy Team Leader, then Team Leader of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Team - Ky Son District Police. In 2004, he was transferred to the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department of the Provincial Police.

President Truong Tan Sang congratulated Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong in the Vietnam Glory Program.

Worthy of being a hero…

The front line of fighting against drug crimes is increasingly difficult and fierce, especially in the border area between us and Laos. Because criminals are increasingly dangerous, sophisticated and cunning, equipped with hot weapons and extremely aggressive, ready to recklessly fight back fiercely when discovered and arrested by the police force. Taking to heart Uncle Ho's teachings to the People's Police, in the role of Team Leader and currently Deputy Head of Department, in major projects, Nguyen Duc Cuong always builds plans carefully, meticulously and accurately to ensure victory and limit casualties. When having to confront criminals directly, he is also the one who takes the lead without the slightest hesitation, not afraid of danger to his life, resolutely and cleverly applying all professional measures to arrest the subject.

In the fight against drug crimes, Nguyen Duc Cuong was injured many times to varying degrees, but with the spirit of resolutely suppressing crime to the end, he always tried his best to excellently complete all assigned tasks. Typically, in the arrest of Nguyen Van Ngoc (Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city) - a subject with 3 previous convictions, infected with late-stage HIV, he fiercely resisted, bit Cuong's hand until it bled in an attempt to escape, but he still single-handedly captured the subject.

In Project 503M, which arrested two Laotian drug traffickers with firearms in the deep forest of Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son), Nguyen Duc Cuong was also the one who directly approached and disarmed the subjects. Or in Project 526L, which arrested a group of drug traffickers armed with AK, K54 guns and grenades in the Co Phao, Luu Kien, and Tuong Duong areas. Nguyen Duc Cuong volunteered to arrest the particularly reckless and dangerous subject Lau Ba Rua, residing in Noong Het (Laos). During the arrest, the task force was attacked by another group of subjects in the forest. Although he was seriously injured and bleeding profusely, Nguyen Duc Cuong still suppressed the pain, pinned the subject to the ground, locked him up and put handcuffs on his hands, and told the Head of the Project: "Stay calm, we must arrest the subject and collect the evidence, I'm fine."

Comrade Nguyen Huu Cau - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Department recounted the emotional situation when Nguyen Duc Cuong was shot through the abdomen by a drug criminal and taken to Nghe An General Hospital for emergency treatment. When he regained consciousness, the first thing he said to his boss was not "I'm in so much pain" but "I'm so hungry...". It was only natural, because after many days of ambush in the forest, he and his teammates had only managed to quickly eat a pack of raw instant noodles. Comrade Nguyen Xuan Thiem - Head of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, Nguyen Duc Cuong's direct boss, also gave him words of trust and respect: "There are special projects that require selecting participants, so the first choice is always Nguyen Duc Cuong...".

During his 10 years working at the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Police, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong directly worked with his teammates to establish, develop plans and discover many major projects such as: 109T, 408D, 608Q, 708P, 808L, 908X, 105C, 911T, 607K... seizing dozens of heroin cakes, dismantling many rings, organizing the illegal buying, selling and transporting of large quantities of drugs, contributing to controlling and reducing the drug situation in the province.

Warm family, teammates...

In his story, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong did not talk much about his exploits and noble awards (Third-class Military Exploit Medal from the President, twice receiving the Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister for his special achievements; Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Public Security in the emulation movement of the People's Public Security to implement the 6 teachings of Uncle Ho; the Vietnam Glory Award, especially the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces, etc.), but always reserved special feelings for his family, relatives and comrades and teammates - the collective that was always united, loving, caring, and standing side by side in the arduous and challenging war with the spirit of "forgetting oneself for the country". He confided: "In combat, we fully understood the mettle, determination, and sacred and noble comradeship when facing the fragile boundary between life and death".

His teammates who directly worked with him on the case told us about the situation in Project 526L. Although he was seriously injured by a bullet, Nguyen Duc Cuong was still worried about his comrade's safety. That was when the task force was concentrating on controlling the subject, observing the flash of bullets on the mountainside, Cuong immediately tried his best to report to the leader: "Tell the brothers to shoot in the direction of the flash and lie low...".

Although his daily life is full of hardships and worries, Nguyen Duc Cuong is lucky to have a strong support system. His wife - Ms. Huong Giang, who works at the Provincial Police Department's Political Department, always shares the joys and sorrows, sharing the joys and sorrows, standing by her husband's side. When they first got married, difficulties piled up, but the small, narrow room in their apartment complex was always filled with laughter. After many years of saving, it was only in recent years that the couple was able to move to an apartment - a place Ms. Huong Giang jokingly calls "paradise". For her, having to wait is very normal. Because she is too familiar with hastily eaten bowls of rice, weeks away from home without news of her husband. She said that every time she saw her husband go on duty, she was not without worry, but her faith was much greater. She believed in the intelligence, bravery, and victory of her husband and his comrades and colleagues... And I believed that when I saw the eyes of the couple, sometimes shining, sometimes tearful, when talking about each other.

On rare days off, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Cuong often takes his wife and young daughter back to his hometown to visit his mother. His father passed away more than 10 years ago due to a serious illness, and his eldest brother also suddenly passed away while he was in his final years at Thai Binh Medical University. Every time he returns, he works tirelessly, sometimes helping his mother hoe the small garden, sometimes patching up the fence, fixing the loose window hinges... For him, "the greatest happiness is to bring peace to the people, to have moments of reunion with family and also the rare moments of leisure sitting with his teammates listening to the leader read poetry, or playing a soccer or volleyball match". It is these noble, simple things that give him the strength to overcome himself, to overcome the temptations that are sometimes very human: "Everyone chooses the easy work, who will do the hard work?"

Article and photos: Khanh Ly